The Landlord and His Tenants
Episode 4
The past few weeks have been very difficult for Ije. The landlord refused to give her a breathing space as he continued threaten to upload her nudes on social media and to send it to her husband. She pleaded with him to delete it from his phone but he called her bluff. She decided to seek advice from her friend, Linda.
“Have you given him some money? I think if you give him money, he will keep shut and delete the video.” Linda said.
“But I don’t have the money to give to him. He is demanding for N400,000. There is no way my husband will give me such money without a reasonable explanation.” Ije said with tears in her eyes. She was stressed out. Already, her baby bump has begun to come out as it has grown big. The stress of carrying a baby and also dealing with the landlord was weighing her down.
“You have to find the money. Tell him something. Lie to him or find an excuse. He is your husband. You have to convince him to cough out the money. If you keep quiet, the landlord might do the worse and ruin your life and your marriage.” Linda said.
That evening as John came back from work, Ije managed to convince him and she succeeded in collecting N500,000 from him. She lied to him that she wanted to use the money to pay Linda who gave them money to settle the landlord when they were owing rent in the previous apartment.
As soon as the money entered her account, she went into the bathroom and transferred N400,000 to the landlord. She called him and informed him, but his reply shocked the hell out of her.
“Yes, I have received the money.” The landlord said over the phone. There was a lot of noise where he was. It was like he was drinking beer at a beer palour.
“I have received the N400,000. Thank you very much but that is not all. You still have to come to my house. I still have to spend time with you before I will delete the video.” The landlord said.
“You are mad! You are crazy. Look, I will have you arrested if you try nonsense with me. I have sent your money. Make sure that video is struck off your phone, else, I will make sure you rot in jail.” Ije threated and hung up. She was so upset, but all the same, she blamed herself for getting entangled in the difficult web she found herself.
“How did I not know that CCTV was in that room that night? Wicked man! He knew what he was doing! My God, how will I get out of this situation?” Ije silently asked herself as she went back to the living room.
Meanwhile, the landlord was actually at a beer palour when he was talking to Ije. Some bad boys heard him when he was mentioning N400,000. When he was walking home, they decided to attack him.
“Where is the money you were talking about? Where is the N400,000? Bring it out or we will break your head.” One of the bad boys asked. He already delivered three hot slaps on the landlords face and he was shouting and begging for his life.
“I don’t have any money with me. It was just a transfer made to me by someone. I don’t have the money in cash. Please spare my life and let me go.” The landlord pleaded. He was drunk and also old, so he could not do much in terms of struggling with the two young men who accosted him on his way back from the beer palour.
“Give us your phone. Do it quickly!” The thieves yelled at him with loud voices. The landlord handed them his phone and they disappeared into the darkness.
That same night, Ije received a phone call from the bad boys who took the landlord’s phone.
“We have your phone with us and we have seen the video in it. We also saw what that man told you on Whatsapp. It is now up to you. We give you 24 hours to send us one million or will release the video online.” One of the bad boys said. His voice sounded very husky and scary.
As soon as he finished talking, he hung up and did not give Ije the opportunity to reply or to even ask for their account number. Ije knew there was fire on the mountain. This is now a very serious issue. The landlord was bad enough, but with his phone and Ije’s nudes in the hands of the bad boys, it is now a matter of life and death.
“I’m finished. What am I going to do? What kind of problem is this?” Ije asked herself. It was around 10 pm in the night, so she sat on the bed beside her husband pondering on what to do next. Her husband, John was fast asleep when the call came in.
The next day, Ije decided to visit the landlord so as to find out what really happened.
“It was not my fault. The boys overpowered me and took my phone. I was beaten too. Look at my face and my body. I received several hot slaps. I barely escaped alive. Everywhere hurts badly.” The landlord said. He looked tired and agitated. He is aware that he could be implicated if the case becomes serious.
“Rubbish! I told you to delete the video but you refused. I pleaded and even sent you money, but you still kept it in your phone. Now, see what you got me into. You are very wicked!” Ije shouted at the landlord. Just then, another call came into Ije’s phone. It was the bad boys calling again.
“You have 12 hours left. Remember, we are posting this video on all social networks if you fail to send us one million Naira. We are warning you, don’t try to be smart.” One of the boys said over the phone.
Ije broke down in tears.
Watch out for episode 5.
